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Updated: Jun 18, 2026
A Method of Trigonometric Modelling of Seasonal Variation Demonstrated with Multiple Sclerosis Relapse Data
Published on: December 9, 2015
Season of birth and multiple sclerosis in Sweden
J Salzer1, A Svenningsson, P Sundström
1Department of Neurology, Umeå University Hospital, Umeå, Sweden. jonatan.salzer@neuro.umu.se
Objective:
To estimate the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) by month of birth in Sweden.
Materials And Methods:
Cases (n = 9361) were obtained from the Swedish MS Registry. All births in Sweden 1900-2007 served as controls (n = 12,116,853). The risk of MS was analyzed for each month of birth separately compared with birth during the other 11 months.
Results:
More (11%) cases with MS than expected were born in June. Fewer (8% and 10%) cases with MS than expected were born in December and January (non-significant after correction for multiple analyses). More (5%) cases with MS than expected were born in February-July as compared with August-January.
Conclusions:
This study supports previous results suggesting an association between the risk of MS and the season of birth. Decreased exposure to sun in the winter leading to low vitamin D levels during pregnancy is a possible explanation that needs further research.
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